King Dedede
is a fictional character in Nintendo's ''Kirby'' video game series created by Masahiro Sakurai and developed by HAL Laboratory. Dedede first appeared in the 1992 video game Kirby's Dream Land as the main villain. He returned for all other games of the series except Kirby & the Amazing Mirror (2004), also appearing in several Kirby comic books, in the 2001 anime series and in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. King Dede is a penguin-like creature, and the arch-enemy of Kirby. However, his nature has been debated by video game critics since he does not demonstrates only bad attitudes, even fighting along with Kirby some times. Although the series' primary antagonist, his popularity among fans has said to be surpassed by other villain of the series, Meta Knight. Characteristics King Dedede is a large, blue, and shaped somewhat like a penguin, but he is never referred to as a penguin in the video game series or anime. He dresses in red royal finery, with his personal emblem embossed on the back of his robe. He also wears yellow gloves, and usually wields a large hammer as an offensive weapon. He has many of the same abilities as Kirby himself does, such as being able to inhale objects and spit them back out with tremendous force. Although the main villain of the series, video game critics has noted he does not fit fully the profile of villain. He even helps and fight in the same side of Kirby in some situations. Appearances In the Kirby video game series King Dedede is introduced to the series as the main antagonist of the game Kirby's Dream Land (1992), in which he figths with Kirby as he wants retrive all food supply of Dream Land stole by Dedede. He breaks the Star Rod—the source of all dreams—into several pieces in order to prevent the inhabitants to sleep to keep Nightmare far away from Dream Land in Kirby's Adventure (1993). In Kirby's Dream Land 2 (1995), Dedede appears as the antepenult boss, and fights being possessed by a spirit-like entity known as Dark Matter, the game's true final boss. In Kirby Super Star (1996), Dedede steals all food of Dream Land. He appears in three of the games presented in the collection of minigames, as well as in the "Arena" game where he is included with the rest of the game's bosses for a rematch. Dedede is possessed by Dark Matter again in Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1997) to fight against Kirby. Dedede plays the role of a protagonist in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000), helping Kirby in certain areas. Additionally King Dedede is an available character in the game's three minigames. Images of the game's beta show that Dedede was originally a playable character all throughout the game. In Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble (2001), Dedede steals all of the stars from the sky for himself and Kirby needs to fight him to get them back. In Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002), a remake of Kirby's Adventure, he plays the same role as in the original game. He appears as the first boss in Kirby Squeak Squad (2007) and is identical to his appearance in previous games, with the exception of a new ability to summon Waddle Dees. He appears in Kirby's Return to Dream Land (2011) as one of the main protagonists (with Kirby, King Dedede, and Waddle Dee), and as playable character in multi-player mode. Kirby: Triple Deluxe (2014) features a rhythm-based platforming mode "Dedede's Drum Dash", in which Dedede is playable. King Dedede also appears in several spin-off games in the series. He appears as the final boss in Kirby's Pinball Land (1993). In Kirby's Avalanche (1995), Dedede appears as the final opponent. He appears as the single boss in Kirby's Dream Course (1995), along with a robotic version of himself. In Kirby's Block Ball (1996), he is a hidden final boss. In Kirby's Star Stacker (1997), Dedede appears to antagonize Kirby during the Round Clear sub-game, in wich Kirby has to reduce his hit points to zero in order to move on to the next stage. Additionally there was a version of the game released in 1998 (only in Japan) which featured Dedede as the final boss in a short story mode. He is an unlockable character in Kirby Air Ride (2003) and Kirby Canvas Curse (2005). Dedede is a boss in Kirby's Epic Yarn (2010) and Kirby Mass Attack (2011). Other appearances King Dedede has made several appearances outside of the Kirby video game series. He is featured in every Kirby manga adaptation; the first one was written by Yoshiko Sakuma, and published by Shogakukan originally in 1992, and the most recently is a 2012 Yuki Kawakami manga by Shogakukan, Hoshi no Kirby: Pack to Daibaku Show. Dedede is a main character in the 2001–2003 anime Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, in which he is the ruler of Dream Land, and tries to destroy Kirby by any cost. Dedede has featured in the Super Smash Bros. video game series. Dedede was set to appear in the first intallment of the series, but was removed; the same happened on its sequel. He first appeared as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and on January 10, 2014, Dedede was announced to return to the series in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Reception ScrewAttack placed King Dedede first on its list of "Top 10 Flipflop Characters in Video Games", adding "this guy prooves that you can judge someone by his cover and he is the original 'flipflop' character". The same was noted by GamesRadar that included Dedede on their list of "9 video game 'bad guys' who aren't really bad at all", noting "he actually only committed the 'crime' because he knew that a nightmare had infested the fountain and wanted to stop it from infiltrating the dreams of the country's citizens through the power of the rod." Although Dedede "has historically been the pink puffball's major nemesis", Complex s stated his popularity was surpassed by Meta Knight. In 2007, IGN speculate that he could appear in a next Super Smash Bros. title since Dedede "is the classic recurring villain of the Kirby franchise", and his creator, Masahiro Sakurai, is also the game director. UGO Networks remarked that he is "cool" because "he's a hammer-wielding, glove-wearing evil penguin." They also listed the fight against King Dedede in Kirby's Dream Land as the seventh hardest boss battle in video games in their "Top 50". He has been cited by Yahoo! Voices as one of the top five characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. References Category:Dictator characters in video games Category:Fictional birds Category:King characters in video games Category:Kirby characters Category:Male characters in video games Category:Nintendo antagonists Category:Nintendo protagonists Category:Super Smash Bros. fighters Category:Video game bosses Category:Video game characters introduced in 1992